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Old 6th Nov 2018, 4:00 pm   #8
Pellseinydd
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Flintshire, UK.
Posts: 707
Default Re: Butter stamp telephone receiver/transmitter

Quote:
Originally Posted by Viewmaster View Post
At first two identical Butter stamp phones were used together.
One was held to the ear as receiver and the other one was spoken into as the transmitter.

Not sure when the transmitter became a fixture on the wall.
In very early days, it was possible to use a single unit as those who were likely to have a telephone were used to using 'speaking tubes' that many Victorian houses were fitted with to call 'Jeeves - more gin please!' .

I remember seeing the remnants of one in a house in Crewe back in the early 1980's. Each end of the flexible tube had a whistle plugged in. To call you pulled the whistle out and blew which sounded the whistle at the other end. Obviously you had to move the tube backwards and forwards from mouth to ear -- hence moving a 'Bell' receiver wasn't much difference.

The wooden ones were the very early ones. Later ones were Gutta Percha - a form of hardened rubber. See attached drawing of 'Graham Bell's Hand Telephone' taken from 'The Home Teacher - a Cyclopedia of Self Instruction' published in 1880. I'm lucky enough to have one of these 'telephones' - see attached photos - which mentions that it was 'Patented 9th December 1876'. That was Graham Bell's UK patent date. I acquired it after standing outside the back door to the Science Museum by the rubbish bins for many years until - whoopie! - they threw out the telephone I was looking for. It was originally marked as being 'acquired' in 1911!

Now back to my Raspberry Pi phone system with 250+ lines working off it! How times have changed!!

Ian J
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